Canadian Underwriter

Close up of an industrial bricklayer installing bricks to build back on a construction site
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Should insurers help customers build back better…or not at all?

January 4, 2024 Philip Porado

Increased severity and frequency of NatCats has Canada’s P&C insurance ecosystem seeking ways to add resilience to the claims process. This includes build back better initiatives to encourage adding things like hurricane straps or hail-resistant shingling to roof rebuilds to

Insurance losses going down the drain
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How insurers can manage losses as NatCat events ramp up

December 18, 2023 Philip Porado

Whatever’s driving increasingly devastating storms over the past decade, one thing is certain — insurers have watched NatCat losses ramp up over the past decade. “It used to be an unusual year where you’d have more than a billion dollars

Fire, flood, hurricane
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Can Canada’s P&C industry catch up to NatCats?

December 14, 2023 Philip Porado

In much of Nova Scotia, last summer was hell. The Tantallon wildfire in May and June generated $165 million in insured damage, mostly for personal property, by the time the flames went out July 4. In a normal year, residents

News CatastrophesClaimsInsurance

What’s Franklin have in store for Atlantic Canada?

August 29, 2023 Philip Porado

As Hurricane Franklin starts turning North, Atlantic Canada is watching and waiting to see whether it makes a direct hit, or if the storm will weaken before reaching Canada’s coast, as current maps suggest. Franklin is expected to cross the

Robot sorting documents to represent AI helping insurance adjusters manage claims
News AdjustersBrokersCatastrophesClaimsCommercial LinesInsuranceRestoration

How automation’s shifting on-site claims work to bigger losses

February 23, 2023 Philip Porado

COVID-19 accelerated development of process efficiencies for insurance adjusters. Pre-pandemic, data-gathering and communications systems began shifting many claims to desk teams, creating efficiencies for adjusters by reserving site visits for complex cases. “What COVID did was expedite some of that

sea coast houses bracing for a hurricane
News AdjustersBrokersCatastrophesClaimsClaims CanadaClimate ChangeConstructionInsuranceMarkets / CoveragesReinsuranceRestorationRisk

How hurricane losses will impact pricing and capacity

November 21, 2022 Philip Porado

Watch for Hurricane Ian’s damage estimates of between US$50 billion and US$70 billion to made insurers more conservative about pricing and capacity, according to Aon’s global market insights for 2022 Q3. “As the full market impacts of Hurricane Ian materialize,”

Heavy rain in Halifax ahead of Hurricane Fiona's landfall
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Hurricane risk: What the future holds for Canada

September 23, 2022 by Jason Contant

Canada will be increasingly at risk for more frequent and severe hurricanes going forward due to climate change, Swiss Re told Canadian Underwriter in an interview Friday. “Sea surface temperatures [are] rising, which means storms will be able to travel

Coastal storm in Nova Scotia
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Where and when Hurricane Fiona is projected to hit Canada

September 21, 2022 by Jason Contant

Environment Canada (EC) has issued a tropical cyclone warning for the Atlantic provinces and southern Quebec as Hurricane Fiona is expected to impact the region starting Thursday evening and continuing into weekend. “This storm is shaping up to be a

Breaking wave from hurricane-force winds
News Insurance

What’s Hurricane Fiona’s projected path into Canada?

September 19, 2022 by Jason Contant

Hurricane Fiona could strike Atlantic Canada with tropical storm-force winds or stronger by Saturday, according to projections from the hurricane forecasters in Canada and the U.S. An advisory issued 5 a.m. AST on Monday by the U.S. National Hurricane Center

Big wave breaking on rocks following hurricane
News Insurance

2022 hurricane season: Does a quiet start mean a quiet end?

September 7, 2022 by Jason Contant

Despite predictions of an “above normal” hurricane season this year, it’s started off with a whimper. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay that way, said Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). In

A power utility truck in Halifax following Hurricane Dorian
News Insurance

How will this year’s hurricane season play out?

August 5, 2022 by Jason Contant

Hurricane researchers have slightly reduced their forecast totals for this year’s hurricane season, but still anticipate above-normal activity for the seventh consecutive season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States trimmed their Atlantic hurricane predictions to

News AdjustersClaimsClaims CanadaInsuranceRestoration

Will Hurricane Larry meet the cat threshold?

September 14, 2021 by Greg Meckbach

Losses to Canadian clients, from Hurricane Larry, seem to be comprised mainly of wind damage to residential property on Newfoundland Avalon’s peninsula, according to reports from adjusters so far. Hurricane Larry, which originated in the North Atlantic Ocean, passed by